First Central American Congress on Protected Areas, Nicaragua 10-14 March 2003

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February 2003

February 21, 2003
REVISITING THE 'PROBLEM OF BOUNDARIES' IN MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

It sounded like a great new idea. Avoid heavy-handed central regulation. Divide up Africa. Decentralise management. Establish 'sovereign units.' That was the 'scramble for Africa.' And it worked. Well, for a while. What could have gone wrong with all this? Plenty, as it happens. The setting up of boundaries by colonial powers was driven by ideology, political power and military conquest. Not that ideology, politics or military are terrible things. Just that this method of dividing up Africa gave little consideration to neither physical and ecological features nor cultural linkages of African people. This not only disrupted physical and ecological linkages but also effectively created opposing management and land-use practices. Noting the importance of these issues to natural resource management and community development in Southern Africa, IUCN ROSA has published “Transboundary Conflict Management in Southern Africa”

Full story
IUCN ROSA - Regional Office for Southern Africa - website

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February 19, 2003
TRANSBOUNDARY NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE GIVEN A BOOST

Thanks to support from the Networking and Capacity Building Programme of IUCN’s Regional Office for Southern Africa (ROSA), the Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia Transboundary Natural Resources Management Initiative now has an office to work from. The initiative aims to alleviate poverty and empower communities living in the districts of Guruve in Zimbabwe, Luangwa in Zambia, and Zumbu/Magoe in Mozambique, as well as provide a collaborative framework for the management of natural resources in the districts. The new office in Luangwa will be the administrative centre for project activity coordination. It will also help improve communication and ensure the effective support of natural resource management activities in the transborder area.

IUCN ROSA website

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February 19, 2003
NATIONS SHARE LESSONS OF TRANSBORDER CONSERVATION
From ENS

Transboundary conservation areas throughout the world are increasing in number and size as governments recognize that species and ecosystems are not limited by political borders. To facilitate greater crossborder cooperation in tropical forest conservation, park managers and policy makers from 30 countries have gathered here for a workshop jointly convened by the International Tropical Timber Organization and IUCN - The World Conservation Union. From 59 transboundary conservation areas that existed in 1988, the number of such areas has more than doubled. In 2001, it was estimated that there were 169 transboundary protected area complexes involving at least 666 individually proclaimed protected areas. That number will grow to 180 transboundary conservation areas by the end of this year, the conference organizers say.

Full story on the Environment News Service

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February 18, 2003
PARTNERSHIPS FOR PARKS – LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND PROTECTED AREAS

One of the most exciting breakthroughs in the debate on community-based conservation is the realisation that a very large network of sites that are conserved and managed by communities already exists outside the officially recognized protected area systems, and that these sites have been managed by communities for years. Worldwide, community-conserved areas take many different forms, including indigenous reserves, community-managed ecosystems, managed landscapes, sacred forests and springs, partnership areas, and privately or NGO protected areas. In time, protected areas will survive only if they address human concerns and gain the support of local people. The latest issue of PARKS showcases the different roles played by local communities in protected areas and highlights emerging issues and challenges. PARKS is published by the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), to order a copy, contact: Parks, 36 Kingfisher Court, Hambridge Road, Newbury, RG14 5SJ, UK, tel: +44 1635 550380.

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February 12, 2003
CENTRAL AND WESTERN AFRICA POSITION FOR THE VTH IUCN WORLD PARKS CONGRESS

Central and Western Africa is home to some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on earth, including species like charismatic forest elephants, gorillas and whales. Yet political instability, resource extraction, and poverty, amongst others, have put increasing pressure on these ecosystems. In response, African nations have created over 2 million sq km of protected areas, equivalent to four times the size of Spain. At a recent meeting held in Kribi, Cameroon, participants from the region and international organizations established a common position paper for Central and Western African countries to be presented at the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, the decade’s largest forum on protected areas. Issues discussed included the need for novel financing and poverty alleviation mechanisms, the development of an effective communications system and the involvement of minority groups and women in decision making.

Kribi declaration in French
Full report on the meeting in French
UICN BRAC - Bureau Régional pour l'Afrique Centrale

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January 2003

January 31, 2003
SIGNS OF HOPE

‘‘Local communities like rural peasants, villagers, pastoral communities as well as tribals who stay around or in national parks, forests, sacred groves, sanctuaries or wildlife areas play an important part in the sustainable management of those areas. Their welfare is as important as the conservation of the forest itself, ’’ says Ashish Kothari, co-chairperson of IUCN’s Theme on Indigenous and Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas, which is a joint working group of two of IUCN's commissions: the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP). Attending a workshop in India this week entitled Signs of Hope, members of the Theme listened to the accounts of the Van Panchayats, which are bodies of elected village representatives who manage the forest around them in a sustainable way. The Theme also gathered in preparation for the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress to be held in September this year in Durban, South Africa.

Related article in India’s Pune Newsline

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January 23, 2003
L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE

Pour élaborer un cycle de formation sur la gestion des espaces naturels en Méditerranée et créer un échange de connaissances traditionnelles détenues par les communautés locales, la Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, l’Atelier Technique des Espaces Naturels et le Centre pour la Coopération en Méditerranée de l’UICN ont organisé une réunion du Réseau des organismes de formation pour la gestion des espaces naturels en Méditerranée.
Une trentaine de formateurs et professionnels des aires protégées provenant de 11 pays méditerranéens se trouvent à Montpellier, en France, pour y participer.
Débutant aujourd’hui, la rencontre fait partie d’une série d’ateliers organisés en préparation au Vème Congrès Mondial sur les Parcs de l’UICN (CMP) qui aura lieu à Durban, en Afrique du Sud, du 8 au 17 septembre 2003. La CMP, qui a pour thème "Avantages sans frontières", sera l’opportunité de présenter les recommandations et suggestions méditerranéennes.

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ON THE ROAD TO DURBAN: WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA REGIONAL MEETING

The West and Central Africa regional preparatory workshop for the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress (WPC) was held in Kribi, Cameroon from 27-31 January 2003. There were 55 participants from 20 countries, including representatives from government agencies, international and national NGOs, and protected area managers. This three-day workshop generated priorities and recommendations on all the major issues that will be featured in Durban. The following outputs were agreed upon:

1) a workshop communiqué (drafted in French)
2) a workshop Declaration for Durban (also in French)
3) a formal report of the workshop proceedings to include background papers and working group recommendations (to be completed and circulated by March/April)
4) a synthesis document on the major issues to be published for Durban
5) a formal WCPA network with IUCN Regional Offices in Cameroon and Burkina Faso as focal points for communication

The workshop was supported by the IUCN Regional Office for Central Africa (IUCN-ROCA), whose Coordinator, Mr. Daniel Ngantou played a major role throughout the three-days in Kribi. Finally, the financial support from BirdLife International, CI-CABS, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, UNESCO World Heritage Center, WWF-International, WCS and the IUCN Programme on Protected Areas made it all possible.

For more information on the workshop, contact Félicité Mangang at felicite.mangang@iucn.org.

Workshop communiqué in French
Workshop declaration for Durban in French

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